THE 1965 COMMEMORATIVE CHURCHILL CROWN

PREV ARTICLE NEXT ARTICLE FULL ISSUE PREV FULL ISSUE

V23 2020 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 23, Number 49, December 6, 2020, Article 31

Jonathan Moscoso Briceño of Chimbote Peru recently published an article on the 1965 commemorative Churchill crown for the International Churchill Society. With permission, we're publishing an excerpt here. Thank you. -Editor

The Royal Mint in May 1965 authorized the issuance of a sterling currency series in 16 denominations. One of which was the "British Crown" coin in honor of Sir Winston Churchill who died on January 24, 1965.

Obverse: Queen Elizabeth II in profile, year of issue 1965 and Latin phrase "ELIZABETH II DEI GRATIA REGINA F.D. (fidei defensor)". In the translation, the phrase proclaims: "Elizabeth II by the grace of God, queen and defender of the faith".

Reverse: Portrait of Sir Winston Churchill. Taken from the bronze statue by his favorite sculptor, Oscar Nemon.

The youthful portrait of Her Majesty without crown, was made in 1952 by engraver Mary Gaskell Gillick, this was selected among seventeen proposals, is the first portrait that marked the coins of the reign of Queen Elizabeth II.

Sir Winston Churchill was considered the greatest prime minister in British history. He is recognized: as a statesman, for leading his country through the tumultuous Second World War; as an army officer, and was prime minister of the United Kingdom twice, rebuilding the United Kingdom in the post war period. After his political career, he was a writer and an eloquent speaker, nicknamed "The Bulldog" by the British press.

He was a member of the British aristocracy. For the Spencer branch he was related to the Dukes of Marlborough, born in 1874 at Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire, and baptized Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill. His father, Lord Randolph Churchill, was also a politician and served as Chancellor of the Exchequer and his mother was Jennie Jerome, an American socialite.

He was awarded the 1953 Nobel Prize in Literature and was the first person to be made an honorary citizen of the United States of America.

Churchhill statue with sculptor Oscar Nemon

In early September 1965, Sir Winston's widow, Lady Spencer Churchill, visited the London Mint in Tower Hill, to witness the minting of the first coin in tribute to her husband, without imagining that it would start a very high coinage.

In July 1966 the coinage was completed with a record of 19'640,000( pieces, this was three times more than the 1953 coinage celebrating the coronation of Her Majesty Elizabeth II. The coinage was very high due to the high demand that it had in the United States for having been an allied country in the Second World War, in addition Winston Churchill's mother was born in the United States of America.

This currency was not included in the demonetization legislation when decimalization was introduced in 1971. Royal Mint has confirmed that the currency is still legal tender, having been remonetized with a value of 25 pence.

It is the first British coin to feature someone who is not a member of Her Majesty Elizabeth II's family.

It is basically the first coinage since 1902 of a "British crown", which does not have a face value, showing itself as an unusual coin called "medal currency".

To read the complete article, see:
The Crown A CLOSEUP LOOK AT THE FAMOUS CHURCHILL COMMEMORATIVE (https://winstonchurchill.org/publications/churchill-bulletin/bulletin-150-dec-2020/the-crown/)
A MEDAL CURRENCY (https://1d4vws37vmp124vlehygoxxd-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/A-MEDAL-CURRENCY-Winston-Churchill-Jonathan-Moscoso.pdf)